Darius Garland deserves to get recognition as an All-Star this season because his play is part of the reason the Cleveland Cavaliers are a powerhouse. He is one of the most accurate guards in the NBA as a potential 50-40-90 Club guy by season’s end and is a dependable playmaker with takeover ability.
What’s changed about him this year? He’s having a career year in long-range shooting and has rediscovered his confidence in attacking the body of defenses. This is another reminder that growth in the NBA isn’t always linear and it can take a while before players feel like themselves again after an injury. Garland missed 19 straight games because of a broken jaw in 2023-24 and said he “Sort of lost his joy for basketball.”
Darius Garland is a deserving All-Star
Garland has only broken double-figure scoring in five fourth quarters this year, but the Cavaliers are undefeated when he does. Most recently on Jan. 9, he had one of his signature moments of the year, burying jumpers on the catch and dribble as the Cavs outlasted the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The previous night, he only had two points in the fourth quarter of the Cavaliers' win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it was the decisive basket that put the game out of reach. After the game, coach Kenny Atkinson was asked about Garland's growth. He said, "It seems like at the end of the games, he wants to make the big plays... his speed to be able to get open is so huge for us."
Keep in mind that last year’s All-Stars averaged 25.2 points per game on a 54.1 effective field goal percentage. In 2024-25, Garland is averaging 21.2 points on a 59.6 EFG percentage. But he could be doing more if his team wasn’t so loaded because he's only playing 30.2 minutes nightly, a career low.
Garland runs a ton of screen rolls. He is looking to get to the paint or pull up from deep, or find the weak side corner and lob threat. The only players who have a higher frequency (must have played 79 percent of the season so far) in this set are TJ McConnell, Trae Young, Chris Paul, Cade Cunningham and Anfernee Simons.
The paint nonrestricted area is one of his sweet spots. He converts 63.4 percent of attempts there, 19.6 points higher than the league average. His favorite area is above the break, where 37 percent of his attempts come from. Here, he makes 42.4 percent, seven points higher than the average. A good chunk of these shots come without a teammate’s pass, as Garland can create for himself on the dribble.
As a playmaker, he is recording 6.8 assists per game, but he is ninth in total helpings (271) with a good assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8). Take note, of the players above him in total assists, his assist-to-turnover ratio is higher than Trae Young (2.72), Cade Cunningham (2.14), LeBron James (2.35) and James Harden (1.74).
Additionally, he has a great connection with multiple targets. He has the most assists on the team to Evan Mobley (48), Jarrett Allen (77), Donovan Mitchell (30), Caris LeVert (23) and Dean Wade (17). While Garland is second in usage on the team (27.1) behind Mitchell, he is first in time of possession at five minutes.
He is the ideal complimentary star because he takes lots of pressure off Mitchell and is still playing like he has something to prove. There are not 24 better NBA players this year than Darius Garland.